In my art workshops for children which I have been running for some years I attempt to bring out of the child, however briefly, their imagination potential, still not curtailed by the adult world. I would like the children to indulge their desire to learn through applying paint, which has always been with us and is one of the oldest means or recording the world as we see it and of expressing feelings and impressions.
Picasso said that children are the greatest artists, and Dostoyevsky maintained that the company of children has a purifying effect on our souls. “The world is learned through experience, while everything else is conjecture”, said Voltaire. Even nowadays many scientists remind us that it is ordinary play that best shapes the child’s imagination, which together with creativity allows us to travel the path of life with more ease.
Many of us presumably know or suspect that children do not need computer games or countless toys, as thanks to that same imagination they can stay in other galaxies and play for hours on end, fashioning their own world out of everyday objects. This is also true of many famous artists, who thanks to retaining the small child within themselves often start new trends in thinking and art through experiment, experience and often sport. When children transfer their reality and the world as they understand it onto canvas, the pragmatically minded part of society often fails to comprehend it, especially if the pictures do not represent anything real or definable.
While interacting with children I do not show off my knowledge in front of them and I face spilt paint with embarrassment just like them. I try to match their level, which the bystander might find odd. I make no requirements and I give the children free rein, which is always the first step, as in adult life. Let us not forget that children’s imagination is much livelier than ours, therefore they have much better contact with their subconscious or creator or, if you will, their guardian angels. Let us not be afraid because we can learn a lot from children; not so much they from us.